technology innovation and developments around what we. cover. today in our two we've told you a lot about these cyber legislation snaking their way through congress and what it means for your internet freedoms but what is the co-founder of apple steve wozniak have to say about it r. t. has the exclusive interview with the man who helped shape technology into what it is today. plus you watch your weight by exercising and eating healthy but who's watching the farm lobby in the legislations they're trying to sneak through congress coming up we'll tell you who's planting seeds and lawmakers heads and how the farm bill will affect you. and from the days of the five food groups to g m o's in space food our tastes palates have come a long way along with the meals we consume daily coming up a look at the future of food.

ads friday august tenth corps pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching r t well we begin today taking a close look at cyber legislation and the aim to regulate the internet with the failure of the most recent cyber bill in the senate and a possible obama executive order it seems the government is looking for ways to beef up internet protection the head of cyber command general keith alexander also the head of the n.s.a. has come out asking the administration to review the rules when it comes to cyber attacks currently the pentagon is only allowed to defend against attacks inside its own boundaries but they're hoping to expand that power to outside of their own computer networks and within foreign countries this comes a day after the labs identified another apparent state sponsored virus with links to stocks not inflame so as have you speculation swirls around the future of the answer. net we here at r t sat down with someone who had

a clear hand in creating our current cyber climate c was the act co-founder of apple speaks to our t. about net neutrality and his fear that freedom on the internet could become a thing of the past i think that a lot of social interaction will be curbed i want to take that back i think i fear it will be that the gate keepers those who can turn on and off switches allow certain things disallow other things allow who gets to send me data about a new movie rather than everyone have an equal say so of reaching me yeah i fear that very strongly that specially net neutrality issues like that internet freedom is being interfered with in major ways and it shouldn't i think the internet should have been considered from day one a country of its own that isn't bound by any individual country's laws maybe we could have an internet government but it didn't happen just like world government doesn't happen you know space doesn't belong to anyone the moon doesn't belong to anyone these are really beautiful principles in life and then as soon as

a country figures out a way to get control of them it disappears i'm an optimist and i believe we can move more and more towards net neutrality the trouble is a lot of it has to be enforced by the government and. conservative types and libertarian types say government shouldn't have any say in control over that that takes away our freedom wrong it takes away the freedom of the companies that are taking away the freedom from us every freedom we have in the united states every one of them was given to us by congressional regulation it's called the bill of rights that that is what gives us our freedom and yet it was from the government was government regulation no there are times when government regulation says you will not impede with the internet neutrality of the users but what do you think about this whole hacktivism movement that's come out of kind of you know the war on whistleblowers and the occupy wall street and anonymous and you have you know these takedowns of government websites and then you see legislation lexis the cyber

intelligence security and protection act that kind of puts a stop to these things you think that that's kind of working as a guys. and using the hacktivism and hacktivists to kind of regulate the internet even more so i really think that there are means for legitimate discourse and trying to bring attention with activist x. is wrong on the other hand i believe very strongly in legitimized marches and that sort of stuff you know with the approval of the authorities there's room in our society to go out and have a microphone and to have a say and be heard by so many others especially in this day of the internet so there are a lot of avenues it's just trying to you know grab something to get on the news and i don't think that's the way to maybe it's a start it puts ideas in people's heads but i really. i don't i don't think that's the right way to solve things the whole world is very conflict oriented we want to take a side and fight for my side my side might be my country it might be my computer platform it might be which browser i use and i take my side and everybody else is

bad and i want to fight it and i only want to look at the world one way and i'm the i try to be so wide open and just you know accept everything and judge it that's the logical scientific you know approach don't take a side don't. like for one religion against others that sort of thing. and that was co-founder of apple steve was in the act and we will bring you more of that exclusive interview in the next hour. but take a look now at a piece of legislation that should be coming up for a vote soon but one that congress seems to keep putting off it's called the farm bill and is restructured and renewed every five years far from a simple bill to help farmers the bill is all encompassing and deals with everything from food to biofuels to food stamps and as our to correspondent christine for reports there's a growing concern that powerful lobbying interests will have a major impact on the future of food in this country. for those facing

hard times places like this do still exist in most major cities washington d.c. included and the need is growing exponentially since two thousand and eight there has been it's twenty five percent increase the number of families children senior citizens who need our food assistance the capital area food bank provides food organizations who distribute it to those in need many part of the supplemental nutrition assistance program or snap formerly known as food stamps it's a program facing extreme cuts in the upcoming farm bill and snap a skirt a person literally that's getting less let's say one hundred dollars and snap could have their benefit reduced to maybe fifty to sixty dollars a month and this is the person that maybe has a family of three or four people in fifty sixty fifty or sixty dollars to go a long way. after that they must go elsewhere but programs like this are far more complicated than they see the rules and regulations laid out in the complex and

large piece of legislation so this is the current version of the form bill that the house is debating in the summer so this is double so i. didn't really have the pages in its newly released report. cultivating influence the two thousand and eight farm bill lobbying frenzy food and water watch breaks down the forces behind the ingredients of the bill an example of too many cooks in the kitchen over the course of the bait of the two thousand and eight farm bill over a thousand and to tease companies trade associations groups lobbied they spend one hundred seventy three million dollars was our calculation so who has the greatest influence when it comes to setting food policy in the united states many experts say it's actually wal-mart they've got nearly four thousand stores across this country many of them super centers and in just the last fifteen years have gone from about six percent to twenty five percent of total grocery sales that means not just more profit but much much more power other major lobbying influences include

monsanto kraft foods the american sugar alliance and the national restaurant association whose money speaks louder than those who receive help from places like this. the great need by people has resulted in food banks moving more and more space are open so we'll see with forty eight thousand square feet our new food distribution center of one hundred twenty three thousand square feet and with that greater need of facing the deeper cuts it could be a recipe for hardship for more and more americans in washington christine for south r t. and keeping on the subject of food you want to talk now about the way americans shop for food the way that it's changing according to the national association of convenience stores food items accounted for sixteen point nine percent of a record one hundred ninety five billion dollars

a convenience store sales in two thousand and eleven so that means americans are more and more turning to convenience stores to shop for food seems like it's becoming another fast food option now to talk about what this means for americans diets jeff lenard vice president of industry advocacy at the national association of convenience stores joins us now jeff welcome so you suggested that the direction that convenience stores are headed. tell us more about this trend. well the trend of having stores with more really harkens back to a certain sense of the old days where drug stores used to have a soda jerk so they sold sandwiches they got you know we there's one convenience store is a lot of the same used to be so i don't know used to be official name but some of the stores what we've seen over the last few years is that in terms of our business for you the key demand for gas is two thousand and eight so we're gradually seeing

less. and that is where you show the revenue driver for profit growth. cigarette sales also on the decline so you're seeing retailers or it's who or. however it was their life and you're talking about what's very nice fruit produce sandwiches you're talking about more food the opportunity for the future but at the same time customers want more time so you're seeing that twenty two percent of furniture stores now sell so you know if you know what it is people are also becoming your first they want to know how they want to eat on the go that's those are the three. i know that you've made the argument that convenience stores as we perceive them today will go from gas stations that sell food to food stores that happen to sell gas is that what you think is. essentially what's happening i think that's one of those things that's going to take twenty years and something look up and so you think that happening you see examples of that across the country but by

citing examples i guess it's also showing there's still a ways to go i thought i was in a new star outside of dallas fort worth that actually no great loss there yes just unbelievable they've got laurel is so great great things there have been the stores that sell sushi and then sushi so we're seeing that evolution people know to measure it wasn't too long ago there people thought it would get either six or change and i thought palin. it's people are more open to nice healing who you're seeing there also saying we're people who give it and could be a source of irish if they're great in the stores they're doing as well but the goal is restaurant quality food convenience store can be the is the be the service and on the way. ok when you think convenience store you kind of think small mom and pop are already or seven eleven doria are there gas stations but what about gigantic

wal-mart's that that kind of one stop shopping is that way how does that plan to everything. when you're competing when you're ready to out of the big wal mart it makes you have to look at how you do so in terms of can be a source wal-mart offers a lot of great things that a lot of stuff shop if you're a convenience store located near a wal-mart there might actually be opportunity for you there because you may be able to get somebody that doesn't want after that they start flocking to all those living to get that wal-mart there so a lot of retailers don't like to be here wal-mart has good reason some can take advantage of that by emphasizing that they're a place to get stuff that. while marceau's you know a lot of the say well who every other retailer is how do you get somebody what they want it looks like price they can feel good about it on their way wal-mart i think the average very close or what our our stores the average experience both reported and all right so we are seeing this trend and clearly more people are turning to

convenience stores to get their food just what does that mean in terms of american health we're already seeing this obesity epidemic how is this playing into into that. well there's two parts of the equation calories is the calories looking at what's happening in terms of obesity. what you're seeing in the wars is not necessarily solely for food but more options as well so you go to be it's not difficult to find something like yogurt or dried berries or roots or to share sandwiches maybe the one advantage of yours over some of the work for additional thought of as fast service restaurants is you probably have a little bit more options what you can offer you aren't necessarily in the menu so you feel awful lot of. the food is sort of getting the food are able to provide

a number of options they can offer the salads they can offer the deal so they can also offer what might be considered more of the old something that you want to be yourself so. we want to look at things like give to them give them some options for healthy and of course get all the way all right you know we talk a lot here on our team about you know this growing wealth gap that is happening in the u.s. do you think that that's going to play into that where you know the wealthy will be able to shop at the more organic. you know big organic stores and have and be able to go for the more healthy options where as you know those that aren't so wealthy are going to be shopping at last healthier places. purchasing more packaged kinds of foods you see that. do you see that impacting the socioeconomic status of people being able to set that whole trend kind of playing

into it even more in the future. there's a lot of things that you hear about their ability it is related to wealth they're related to what your parents or what. if your parents. told you that apple is a great that's probably a trait of their pass on to your. i don't know if we're necessarily the expert on the socio economic situation but in a typical day in our industry we service about a hundred six million transactions and there are three hundred well million people free so odds are if you want to convenience work today. at least buy gas or be inside the store so we love less that the socio economic because everyone in big stores. if you're thirsty you forever drink a lot of our stores their food being they're here hungry to grab something to eat

so. it's probably best for somebody else. well. we see everybody in our stores all right i mean last i just want to ask you we were talking about this trend but at the same time it seems like there is this demand we see this movement for again excludes that these kinds of foods are growing in popularity so isn't there more of a demand for natural clean food that you wouldn't necessarily find at a convenience store. we. there are numbers that were said it was for these things but we hold on we've seen a lot of studies out there where it's one of the key things here you go it is the big thing is you need to look at that there is what people say you know it's very similar if you ask that people work you know several a lot of the answers are aspirational of course they want to get you or if they go to the gym. there are a lot of it. she she rolled out what organics and not really succeeded so the idea

is to give options or by let me have choices of educated customers that will want to sell them let's go to a place don't just look at one spot where they wait shop if you want to sell something else yogurt. bates who orders the cockpit doors were open doors they're much more likely to get. purchases so sometimes just what you have in your store is in there presenting because for jeff i'm going to have to cut you off there we are at a time i will say that one thing i will never get a convenience store is sushi so that's the term drawing the line thank you so much for coming on the show that was jeff letter to glory to a vice president of industry advocacy at the national association of convenience stores. while still had an r t in your five main food groups you've got your friends and vegetables and grains dairy sweets and me it's but the sheraton leave a little room for the g.m.o. as companies are putting in your fluids coming up we'll show you where the

evolution of food has come from and where it's headed.

well it's not just where americans are food shopping that's changing the actual food we eat is changing let's take a look now at how food has evolved over the years and sixteen twenty one the first thanksgiving feast seventeen hundreds of birth the french fry is eight hundred the hamburger came along to go with the fry is eight hundred eighty five the sugary carbonated beverage dr pepper came into being and the early one nine hundred more processed foods came about like hostess cupcakes nine hundred thirty seven for better or worse canned meat became a reality that's when we got spam in one thousand nine hundred eighty that the food and drug administration approved. foods in two thousand and one if you weren't getting enough alone megan as in your diet they somehow injected the fatty acids into eggs and going along with making foods more convenient in two thousand and two the creation of tearless onions now in twenty thirty five some are predicting our

dinner plate will look much much different red carrots lab injected hamburger patties fake chicken. and along those lines in the coming years we might start seeing new varieties of produce that are bigger in tastier our meat engineered in a lab to help us talk about the food of the future is food historian and author of the book you see there lost arts of hearth and home can all bala. and welcome so we see the food that we eat is constantly evolving what direction is it heading in . well i think you had a very scary litany of changes there but i think you've predicted the direction very well on convenience foods definitely on the rise and i think we're seeing a lot more from that handheld i mean you know americans love to have peace and hamburgers and things that are that you don't need help for but i can imagine in

the next twenty thirty years something fairly yours and maybe even off lead when people stop buying stakes and things that i can see take nine really difficult to find people getting most of everything in a pocket or some. it is basically that you're saying. i mean we tend to think. being universal then the past hundred years and i think this is very very. we also can see this controversy over g.m.o. a genetically modified organisms can we expect food to further become genetically modified well this is a trend that you know right now we're on the cusp of possible legislation california is trying to pass labeling laws on the ballot in the bamberger so i think if that happens the rest of the country might follow and we might have a reaction against it's happened in europe but if that doesn't happen we're going

to remain ignorant at least in this country and i think we will see a lot more chilling of our it's really not in direct product like you would find in . the corn that you called it millions of offices in the soil that ends up in philly lecithin or in some kind of additive it's called a process or for feels like an animal so when you. cower g.m.o. corn it's not directly consumed by humans but it's indirect and down the line of the things we don't really know what that does so you know figures across that we don't have a big there. sastre on our hands or you know ten years after consuming people find it of some disease but the government so far has decided that these are virtually equivalent but you know the corn that is g.m.o. in the corn that isn't. really you don't have to test the g.m.o. corn because the same organism which i think might disagree and so again how

far can this go can are we talking bread and meat that isn't actually meat that's created in a lab you know well there's experiments with what they call in vitro meat i think it's actually you start you know cells replicate and if you put them in a good medium a little glass between this and you feed them they will reproduce and create more and what is surprising to me is we have a growth that factor immediately goes you know one meat that's very small live right now it's very prohibitive prohibitively expensive but peta has come out on the side saying well you know right now where raising cattle mistreating them and subjecting them to indignities if you raise just the cells in the laboratory that's a lot more effort with them than you can understand with that position comes from i think meat will definitely become more expensive in the future and it should be you know right now it is something we need a lot of we don't think about the environmental consequences we don't really about

this sale that need is raised you know what's the sense that as an animal model and i think that the general china does we're moving towards more grass more ethically we're more formal we need and i think that that will will catch on the future. more sense of my right eye guy will definitely say i envy trial does not sound delicious but what do you. as we see this trend steering from natural products to more products that are created in labs i mean ultimately what does that mean americans are putting these types of food into their body how does that impact our health. well there's not a lot of research on it unfortunately the people who hold the most of the most high tech g.m.o. especially don't want those you know intellectual property out there and they don't

want other people testing is something wrong with it. so we really don't know if this is all of their you very big question mark you know there's a there's always a constant tension in much of the american but around the world is that you have some scientists inventing things creating flavors arguments and things like that that go into our food and have other people who say i just don't want this and i'd rather eat whole foods and things that are grown organically or or at least sane a belief and that tension is actually for google i think i think it promotes a better chip on the one hand it creates greater awareness is among the general populace and i think the industry can get away with as much as they used to or they tried very hard to get it as a doing that with g.m.o. . you know that that tension we tend to to go if you think of that sort of trajectory of how our attitude towards changes the move towards natural foods is very big when i was sixty seventy it's come back now again people are starting to

do things themselves and their own sectionals and. things like that so this is definitely action against industrial food right now but i think that to be the next trend in a major way for the next several years then of course what what usually happens is the industry talks that they will label something organic i mean the organic cheetos on the shelf. you know is very obviously you know all right well you know it can if you are what you eat this is all pretty scary to me or going to get out there that was can i'll bali history a professor at the university of the pacific and author of the box a lost art of hearts and help. well coming up next as the capital accounts with lauren lister let's check in with learn to see what's on today's agenda lauren what you working on over there hi liz after hearing a little of your show i have to say i'm hungry and i do want to i will wait a half hour to eat some of the foods that your guest did not talk about what exactly your car knowing i want to. as far as our show live is it's official the

justice department has come out and said that they will not pursue criminal charges against goldman sachs or any of its employees for financial fraud related to the mortgage crisis during the financial crisis so liz what what world are living in that doesn't pass the smell test to an average person i mean sure i'm not a lawyer but i want to find out what gives and we're going to hear from gerald celente who was always always outspoken on these issues about how and why and what needs to change so that there is some sense of justice right laurin thanks for that update that's coming up next on the capital account with laura lister but that is going to do it for the news for this hour for more on the stories we cover check out our you tube channel you tube dot com slash r t america our web site r t dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter liz wall we'll be right back here and a half hour see that. news

today once again. these are the images are girls in seeing from the streets of canada. joint operations room today.

let's. stop and look at the current a bit it's unemployment the national debt bailing governments ask yourself does it really matter who wins with billions created daily you can gamble with your money or turn it into a solid gold brick.